Dizzy Gillespie confirms his position as the greatest bebop trumpeter ever on this 100 track set covering the early years with the bands of Teddy Hill, Lionel Hampton and Cab Calloway, as well as his exciting trumpet virtuoso.

This box set collects the greatest hits and artistic achievements by Benny Goodman And His Orchestra, the man mainly responsible for making jazz the popular music of the ’30s and ’40s. Like Elvis 20 years later Goodman adapted black music for white tastes, toning it down and cleaning it up, but unlike Presley he was willing to take risks with his celebrity. He was born into a large an impoverished family in 1909 and was encouraged to learn an instrument by his father, he chose the clarinet. This paid off as the young Goodman was to become musically obsessed at an early age and by the time he was in his teens he was earning more money than many of his elders. Although not a great jazzman in the way Armstrong or Ellington was, he was a major figure in jazz and played an important role in the history of 20th century popular music.

Wardell Gray was one of the truly great bebop tenor saxophonists. Often performing in tandem with that other giant, Dexter Gordon, Gray also worked with Benny Goodman and Count Basie. Like so many of his contemporaries he fell victim to the living conditions American society imposed on it’s black musicians